Sleeping BoG Governor must resign- MP

Member of Parliament New Juabeng South Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah is accusing the Governor of the Bank of Ghana of sleeping on the job and must resign.

According to him Dr Kofi Wampah has shown gross incompetence in the handling of Ghana’s currency and “must take a bow.”

He was speaking to Joy FM’s Parliamentary correspondent Elton John Brobbey in Parliament, Thursday.

Ghana’s currency has been on a decline for months now with dire consequences on the economy.

In January 2014 alone, the currency depreciated by seven per cent. At the end of the first quarter it had depreciated by 26 per cent.

The Governor Kofi Wampah in a desperate attempt to keep the cedi from further decline introduced a wide range of interventions in February. The directives included “Cash withdrawals over the counter from Foreign Exchange Accounts (FEA) and Foreign Currency Accounts (FCA) shall only be permitted for travel purposes outside Ghana and shall not exceed 10,000.00 dollars or its equivalent in convertible foreign currency, per person per travel.”

“Foreign exchange purchased for the settlement of import bills shall be credited to a margin account which shall be operated and managed by the bank on behalf of the importer for a period not exceeding 30 days.”

The interventions were widely condemned as being too restrictive, forcing the governor to review the directives.

The cedi has since been depreciating. Dr Assibey-Yeboah said the country has had enough of a “sleeping” Governor on duty.

“He has done his bit, but he is not up to the task,” he chided, adding the country’s currency will deteriorate further if the Governor stays in office.

He said all the interventions by the Governor are not working because there is no “better research underpinning” the interventions.

Dr Assibey Yeboah said the Governor appears to be giving false hopes about solving the depreciation and must be resign.

But an Economist Caseley Hayford said Dr Wampah cannot be wholly blamed for the tattered economy.

He said the decision by the government to continue borrowing is affecting the cedi and the economy and the governor cannot be held responsible for that.

He said the Governor does not appear to have the right tools to do his job.